The present invention relates to maintenance of rechargeable batteries, and in particular to automatic conditioning of a rechargeable battery in a battery-powered apparatus.
Many electronic devices such as laptop computers utilize rechargeable batteries in order to operate in a portable mode. It is desirable to have long-lasting batteries to optimize the length of time that the electronic device can be used prior to recharging the batteries. The battery, or the device using the battery, is able to determine the approximate remaining time that the battery can provide sufficient power to operate the electronic device. Some laptop computers use an icon to indicate the amount of charge left on a battery.
Users of electronic devices vary the patterns of their usage. Often, they will use the device for a short period of time in portable mode, and then connect to an AC power source to recharge the battery. The device is more likely used for a long period of time coupled to the AC power source without discharging the battery, leading to a self-discharge condition in which useful capacity of the battery is lost. To restore the capacity of the battery to hold a maximum or near maximum charge, a conditioning or deep discharge cycle can be performed on the battery in which the battery is completely discharged and then recharged.
However, users of electronic devices are often unaware of the need for performing the conditioning cycle on the battery and/or do not know how to execute the cycle. Also, the conditioning cycle can take a significant amount of time to complete. The conditioning cycle must be carefully scheduled to ensure that the conditioning cycle is not performed when the electronic device needs the battery for operation in portable mode. It may not be feasible to use the device in portable mode if the conditioning cycle is in the deep discharge process, and minimal or no charge is remaining in the battery. Further, use of the electronic device prior to completion of the recharging process may lead to further diminution of the capacity of the battery to hold a maximum charge.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a method and a system of automatically determining the need for and then scheduling the conditioning cycle for the battery, while also notifying the user of the need for and the scheduled time of the conditioning cycle. It would also be desirable that such a method and system would perform the conditioning cycle on the battery at the scheduled time.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method and a system of maintaining a rechargeable battery for an electronic device.
In one embodiment, usage of the battery is monitored. Based on the monitored usage of the battery, a need for performing a conditioning or deep discharge cycle on the battery is determined, and a user of the electronic device is notified of such need. The user is provided with a user interface for scheduling the conditioning cycle on the battery. The conditioning cycle is then performed as scheduled, provided that the electronic device is coupled to an external power source and/or is in a mode appropriate for performing the conditioning cycle on the battery. For example, if the electronic device is a portable computer, the computer may need to be shut down or operating in standby mode. In particular embodiments of the invention, the conditioning cycle may include a controlled deep discharge of the battery, time to allow the battery to cool, and then a full recharging of the battery. In further embodiments of the invention, the life capacity of the battery may be monitored, and the user may be notified of the need to replace the battery if the life capacity of the battery falls below a predetermined threshold.